Built on around 5,300 hectors of green land near the Delhi-Haryana border, the unoccupied flats have no water, no electricity, no proper sewage, no market-place, no buses to ply on the wide roads, no hospital or clinic to treat the sick, no telephone connection and the nearest police station is in Kapasera, 20 km away.

The old gatekeeper at the Sector-1, Pocket-1 DDA, SFS (Self Finance Scheme) Houses, ``Ghar to kabse bana para hain. Bijli, paani nehin hai to log kaise aayenge (The flats are generally lying vacant. How will people come without electricity and water).''

The Delhi Development Authority's once prized housing sub-city, planned for a population of over one million and billed as `a landmark in urban design', has become a nightmare for investors and buyers.

Most of the owners can't move in due to the lack of civic amenities, some have taken back their money for the same reason. In the 600 flats in Pocket-3, Sector 19, 25 families have so far moved in. Says P.R. Chopra, the owner of Chopra Property Dealer and a resident: ``We are living here in abysmal conditions, risking our lives. A few weeks back my car was stolen at gun-point in front of my house, in broad daylight. It's like living in a remote desert surrounded by bandits.''

A tour of the sparsely inhabited sectors in Papankalan made it apparent that those who have shifted `risking their lives' are mostly real estate agents or people who had no options left. ``We had to move in because we had no other place. But till date we've not got an electricity connection. No one has a metre here, all connections are unauthorised. Visiting DESU officials is part of my daily routine and going out of here is so easy task. Not a single bus route serves this area,'' said Harish Oberoi, president of Residents' Welfare Association, Pocket-3, Sector 19.

``It's unsafe to ventures out after six. It is pitch dark as we have no street lights. Some days back a body was found in front of our colony. But by the time one reaches Kapasera police station 20 km away, the culprits cross the border to Haryana,'' he said.

The bookings for the DDA's New Pattern Scheme of housing began way back in 1979. The first installments were taken in 1986 and the allotment process began around late '92-'93. But two decades later, DDA is yet to provide basic civic amenities.

Said Dr S. Bhattacharya, who has been allotted a flat in Sector 6, ``I'm a retired person with limited means, but I'm forced to live in rented house because of DDA's callousness. They're sitting on my entire life's saving. I applied in '85, paid all the four installments, but still don't know when I will get the possession letter!''

And this is no isolated story. Arun Kumar, an LIC employee, shifted house knowing the problems.``It became financially impossible to support my family, my children's education, pay the installments and keep staying in a rented house. And the suffering is no less,'' he said. Similarly, B. Walia had to wait for 20 years to get possession of a house in Sector 19 which has no water, no electricity. ``For the past six months I've been going to DDA and DESU office everyday. It's sheer harassment,'' he said.

DDA officials claim they are helpless. Said Vijay Risbud, the DDA Housing Commissioner (Planning), ``We didn't prepare the Master Plan in isolation. The other departments were taken into confidence. But they didn't develop the additional water resources or sewage treatment plants as per the plan. We can lay the lines, but the Jal Board and the DVB have to give the final connection.''

A senior Delhi Jal Board official claimed that the DDA has yet to complete the underground tanks needed to store water. ``At no stage did we give a commitment to supply water. Where will we get the water? We are dependent on Haryana which is not supplying the promised quota. DDA has been asked to dig their own tubewells.''

The Delhi Vidyut Board which had similar complaints against the DDA, refused to come on record. And a DDA project engineer, who owns an apartment in Papankalan, also blames his own department. ``The departments have no coordination. They are busy blaimingg each other. As a result we've been forced to bore our own tubewells. But the water is causing widespread stomach problems.''

In Narela, in fact, the DDA has stopped construction for lack of planning on the water and electricity front. And in Rohini's Sectors 23 and 24, DDA took an undertaking from the residents before handing over their houses to ensure that the issue of non-availability of water and electricity is not raised at a later stage.